Northmore scored a sweep at the 48th annual McGowan Invitational title in Division III competition over the weekend, with both the girls' and boys' teams finishing in first place.
Northmor’s boys cross country team continued its outstanding season by capturing the Golden Knights' third invitational title this season. Northmor placed five runners in the top 20 in its victory, and its 49 team points scored outpaced runner-up Berne Union (66) and third-place finisher Centerburg (85).
Northmor's Lucas Weaver was the race runner-up in a time of 16:51.7, 22 seconds behind the winner, Berne-Union’s Hudson Schultz. Golden Knight Ryan Lehman finished fourth in a time of 16:54.6, and David Blunk crossed the line with a time of 17:42.9, good enough for sixth place. Thomas Keene (18:41.3) and Connor Radojcsics (18:41.4) rounded out the scoring for the Golden Knights.
Kevin Ruhl, Northmor varsity boys' cross country coach, saw this weekend’s running of the 48th McGowan Invitational, hosted by Watkins Memorial High School, as a gauge for his team's competitive level.
“We look forward to running against quite a few Central District teams this week at Watkins Memorial,” Ruhl said before the event. “This is one of the only times we get a chance to compete against them before running in the district race.
"The regular season serves as a prelude. ... It will be good to find out where we are at, currently, in comparison to them and also to find out what we need to be focusing on trying to achieve in a little over a month at the district race,” Ruhl said.
Northmor showed its depth with a pair of wins and a runner-up finish leading up to its McGowan title.
“We finished first as a team at our Northmor Invitational and the Colonel Crawford Invitational,” Ruhl said. “I thought that we ran fantastic at Colonel Crawford.” The Golden Knights placed second in the Wynford Invitational.
Lehman, a junior who was a state qualifier in 2021, had two wins and a second-place finish coming into the McGowan. Weaver’s second at the McGowan compliments earlier third- and fourth-place finishes.
While Weaver and Lehman appear to have settled into the top two spots, the Golden Knights hope to find additional support throughout the lineup.
“When our third, fourth, and fifth runners get a little more consistent, I think we are going to be very competitive by the end of the season at our league, district, regional and hopefully state meets,” Ruhl said.
Centerburg’s third-place finish at the McGowan was its best of the season. The Trojans had five runners finish in the top 25 out of 107 competitors.
Greg Beard ran a time of 18:11.6 to pace the Trojans and finish in 12th place. Chase Netting (18:22.4), Ethan Jackson (18:23), Nathan Dickhof (18:49.4), and Alex Riegel 18:50.6 rounded out the scoring for Centerburg.
In the girls' competition, Northmor finished with 63 points to outduel Columbis Academy (67) and Northridge (69). Lady Knight Kate Lehman finished second in 20:32.5 to Welington Columbus’ Eva Dulle’s 20:28.3. Northmor's Natalie Hunter finished third in 20:48. and Ryan Brinkman was 16th in 22:16.0.
Centerburg's top finisher was Payton Tucker, who finished seventh in 21:06.3.
